Author's Note: Alright, a longer chapter. The others were too short.
My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro.
Location: Sweet Apple Acres, Equestria
"What was that thing? And what was the thing that shot at me?" Rainbow tried to think straight as she looked for Applejack and Twilight. Finding them, she touched down and took a deep breath. Twilight gave her an odd look, then asked "What was it?" Rainbow shook her head.
"I don't know. It looked like a small house with wheels on it. Standing in front of it was a wierd creature. And it shot at me with some sort of long device!"
Twilight frowned. What her friend was describing was most puzzling. "Are you sure you weren't just seeing things?" she asked.
"Twilight, would I be able to make something up like this off the top of my head?"
"Well..." Shaking her head, Twilight looked back at the spot far away from them. "I think we should get the others before we do anything else."
The three fillies from earlier rushed through the town, making to the entrance of Sweet Apple Acres. The white unicorn turned to the earth pony.
"Hey Apple Bloom, think we should get Applejack?"
Apple Bloom shook her head. "Nah, Ah think she'd just get in tha way. Besides, Scootaloo can get us out of thar on her scooter if there be trouble."
Scootaloo nodded proudly. "Sure can, Sweetie Belle."
Sweetie Belle nodded. 'Okay then, lets go."
Without another word, they rushed to the source of the explosion.
Josef lowered his rifle as whatever the thing had been flew away.
"Damn. I nearly had that thing. Stupid wind."
Edward looked back out of the hatch and glared at Josef. "Not even sure where we are and already shooting at stuff."
Josef glared back. "I was shooting at some unknown creature with wings and looked like a horse."
Edward just stared. "...okay then."
Josef rolled his eyes and looked back. "I'm going out whether you like it or not."
Edward threw up his hands. "Fine! If you get attacked, don't come crying to me!" And he ducked back into the tank. "I'll be fixing this thing..."
Josef nodded. Slinging his rifle over his shoulder, he set out down what looked like a dirt path.
Apple Bloom giggled as they went along the dirt path. "What do you think our cutie marks will look like if this works?"
Scootaloo shrugged. "I don't know. But an explosion cutie mark would look cool."
Sweetie Belle giggled too. "The zipline cutie mark was supposed to look cool too."
Scootaloo glared at her, then looked back ahead.
Apple Bloom was in the lead when suddenly she stopped, causing the other fillies to crash into her. "Do you hear that?"
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stopped and listened. It sounded like... singing! But it was in a language they had never heard before.
While Josef walked down the path, it had occured to him how strangely quiet it still was. Looking at his rifle, he thought "If something attacks me, I have my knife, grenades and rifle. What's not to love with that combination?" Smiling, he slowly started singing:
"Alte Kameraden auf dem Marsch durchs Land Halten Freundschaft felsenfest und treu. Ob in Not oder in Gefahr, Stets zusammen halten sie auf s neu..."
Twilight walked away from Fluttershy's cottage, with said cottage's owner trailing behind. They had already gotten Pinkie Pie and Rarity, whom they had come across in town. Now that they were all together, Twilight felt sure they could handle whatever it was that had riled up Rainbow. Twilight frowned. This was what concerned her. NOTHING ever got Rainbow riled up, except for that one incident with the dragon. Sighing, she looked at said friend, who was nervously flapping alongside Applejack. Applejack herself looked nervous. Whatever had appeared had landed on her farm, of all places. Twilight sighed. Today was not going how she wanted it to.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders waited nervously behind a bush for whatever was singing to pass by them. Scootaloo nudged Apple Bloom and whispered "Think it might be a foreign pony?"
Apple Bloom shrugged. "Most likely."
"Where would one come from to have a voice like that?
"I don't kno-"
They were cut off as Sweetie Belle gave a small screech. Turning to see what she was looking at, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo gasped too. What was walking by them... could not possibly be from Equestria. It was walking on two legs and appeared to be covered in grey, black and brown clothing. Perched upon its head was some sort of helmet and it was carrying a long device with a knife attacked to the front. The fillie's eyes went wide as the creature walked past, still singing that strange song. Scootaloo poked Sweetie Belle.
"What is it? What is it?"
"I... I... don't know!"
Apple Bloom looked back at them. "Quiet! It might hear you!"
Right as she said that, the thing stopped walking and singing. Turning, they heard it ask something that sounded like "Ist da jemand?"
Josef was walking confidently, loving the feeling the song he was singing was building up inside of him. It was an old song that he'd loved to sing as a kid. Staring straight ahead, he continued onwards, still feeling confident. Suddenly, he thought he heard whispering. Turning around, all he saw was a bush. "Is someone there?" he asked, not really expecting an answer. When he didn't get one, he shrugged and turned. "Stupid foreign land making me hear things..." he thought irritably.
Apple Bloom watched the creature turn around and walk away. She was so intrigued by whatever it was that it took a hard poke from Scootaloo to bring her back to reality. Looking at them, she noticed Scootaloo was shaking and Sweetie Belle was on the verge of tears.
"What's wrong?"
Sweetie Belle looked at her with big eyes. "That thing... it scares me."
Scootaloo nodded in a greement. "Yeah... I really don't like the looks of it. We should go."
Apple Bloom sighed. "Oh come on. It didn't bother to search us out, so it can't be THAT bad!"
Sweetie Belle thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, i guess you're right."
Scootaloo too appeared to think, then just shrugged. "I'll stick with you for now."
Apple Bloom smiled. With the courage they were showing, they were BOUND to get a cutie mark this time!
Twilight and the gang arrived at the gate of Sweet Apple Acres about 5 minutes after the episode with the CMC. Turning, she looked around at her friends. Applejack seemed to be reassuring Rainbow of something, Fluttershy looked scared as usual and Rarity was showing Pinkie Pie a new scarf. "Alright listen up!" Everypony stopped what they were doing and looked at Twilight.
"Now, Rainbow says whatever this thing was was 'bizarre' and shot at her with something. This can only mean whatever it was, it is dangerous. So that is why I drew up a plan for our safety."
The rest of the gang groaned, except for Fluttershy who just made a small 'eep' sound. They were in for another of Twilight's rediculously long plans.
Josef walked along the path quietly, still thinking about the voices he had thought he'd heard. Normally, hearing voices wouldn't bother him, but this was different. He was in a strange land that was filled with apples, and he had suddenly just heard voices. Shaking his head, he looked back. Still nothing behind him. Josef growled at his slight paranoia. "I was just hearing things. Why is this getting to me?" he thought angrily. Sitting down on a rather large rock, he looked up at the sky, noting how the clouds didn't seem to be moving. Upon closer inspection, he saw something. "These clouds... they look like steretypical clouds off a kid's drawing." Shaking his head again, he looked back down at the ground.
Apple Bloom crept along silently. She was getting annoyed by her friend's constant poking and asking her where the thing was. She was just following the very strange prints it was leaving in the ground. Looking up, she gasped and dived into another bush, pulling her friends with her. She had just seen the thing sitting on a rock, looking up at the sky and talking to itself in that strange language. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo popped their heads out, looking at the thing. Scootaloo had a sudden idea.
"Hey guys. I'm going to walk up to it."
"Are you serious?"
Scootaloo nodded. Instantly, she was met by her friends in her face yelling. "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? IT'S NOT SAFE!"
"SCOOTALOO, DON'T!"
Scootaloo cringed. She hated it when ponies yelled at her. Apple Bloom noticed her and said "Hey, no big deal. We're just saying, don't go-"
"Apple Bloom!"
"What?"
Sweetie Belle just motioned. Apple Bllom followed the motion and felt her heart freeze. The thing was standing up, pointing the device at the very bush they were hiding in.
"Amerikan?"
Josef sat there, thinking about what he was going to do. As he was about to stand up, he suddenly heard yelling coming from the side of him. Looking, there seemed to be a bush with voices eminating from it. What was worse... the voices were speaking in English. Standing up slowly, he pointed his rifle at the bush. "American?" he asked cautiously.
Proceeding towards the bush, he could hear whimpers coming from it. Jabbing the butt of his rifle into the bush, what he had been expecting to fall out most certainly didn't. What looked like 3 small ponies had flown out of the bush, landing in front of him. One appeared to be white with purple and pink fur and a white... horn. The second was yellow with a red mane and bow tie. The third was... orange with a purple mane and wings? Josef shook his head. Whatever, it was just 3 small ponies, despite being a little odd. Looking away, he examined the bush again, trying to figure out where the voices could have come from.
If Apple Bloom could chose to be anywhere other than her current location, she would take it. She was shaking so hard, the other two fillies could hear her teeth chattering. Scootaloo herself was trying to curl up and disappear. Sweetie Belle was crying by now. The creature had forcefully shoved them out of the bush and had examined them. Apple Bloom thought it was wierd though, that he ignored them after a second and went back to examining the bush. Looking at Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, she made a motion that asked "Should we run?" Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo nodded, getting up. Apple Bloom herself was about to get up when suddenly the creature whirled around and pointed the device at them again.
Josef examined every bit of the bush he could find. There appeared to be no radio, so where could the voices have come from? Suddenly, something occured to him. Turning around, he pointed his rifle at the three small ponies. "Oh my god, am I really about to talk to some ponies? I must be going crazy." He thought to himself. Out loud in English, he said "Wonderful weather."
Apple Bloom couldn't believe her ears. The thing had just spoken to them in their language! Looking at the other two ponies, she looked back up. Not knowing what to expect, she answered "Yeah, ah guess so." Now, whatever she was expecting, it most certainly wasn't this. The thing stared at her, lowered the device to its side, then immediately ran off yelling something at the top of its voice in its strange language. Shuddering, she turned to the other fillies. "Now that was horrifying."
Whatever Josef was expecting, it most certainly wasn't to have one of the ponies respond "Yeah, I guess so." Lowering his rifle to his side in shock, only one thing crossed Josef's mind: "Run." So, that is what he did. Turning around, he ran back down the path away from the fillies, yelling "Ponies from Hell!"
Edward was back at the tank. He had just finished repairing the damaged steering system when he heard Josef. Looking out, what he saw made him start laughing. Josef was running faster than he had ever run in the war, yelling something about 'ponies from Hell'. Laughing, Edward slid back and let Josef literally jump into the tank, slam the hatch shut and retreat into the corner as far away from the hatch as possible. Sitting down across from him, Edward smiled.
"So how'd it go?"
Another Author's Note: The song Josef is singing is Alte Kameraden. It is a song I love dearly too.
